Lordy I miss the 808, thanks so much for sharing! I use to love watching the Hilton Hawaiian Village fireworks from the lanai at our place in Discovery Bay.
I enjoyed reading through this thread....
My "Where I'm from" story, is best told by John Steinbeck in his book "Cannery Row"..
He starts the book with, "Cannery Row in Monterey in California is a poem, a stink, a grating noise, a quality of light, a tone, a habit, a nostalgia, a dream."
I grew up 5 blocks above Cannery Row and went to grade school with children of people that characters in the book were based on.. In the mid to late 40's my mother, along with dozens of women in our diversely ethnic neighborhood, would hear the horns of the sardine purse seiners, put on her slicker apron, boots, hair net and walk down the hill to work in the canneries..
Decades have brought complete change to the area as this link will show:
Cannery Row | John Steinbeck | Our Story
For those who enjoy reading, I encourage you to pick up a copy of Cannery Row.. It is fictional but, to we old natives, it was our lives..
This is a pretty good representation of what it's like here in Portsmouth, Virginia. It's a small city on the Elizabeth River near the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay. The Portsmouth Naval Shipyard was established in 1800; that's where that aircraft carrier, the Harry S Truman, is going.
My dad lived in Salinas years ago and then built a house in Spreckels. We were able to visit several times. One year, we took our German exchange student with us. While we were there, we took him and my sister to the Monterey Bay Aquarium and had lunch in a converted building on Cannery Row. That was a great trip.
I'm pretty sure I've read the book, but it's certainly worth a reread [emoji2]
My dad lived in Salinas years ago and then built a house in Spreckels. We were able to visit several times. One year, we took our German exchange student with us. While we were there, we took him and my sister to the Monterey Bay Aquarium and had lunch in a converted building on Cannery Row. That was a great trip.
I'm pretty sure I've read the book, but it's certainly worth a reread [emoji2]
This comment reminded me of when I was a kid and Dad would drive Mom and me through downtown Cleveland on the way to his sister and BILs, who lived on the West Side! *gasp* Anyway, we would drive past all of the steel plants. If they were smelting ore, the air was rife with the smell and color of that job - a rank smell dusting everything with a fine patina of reddish-brown. I would complain about the smell and cover my nose with my sleeve or shirt collar. Dad would remind me that "that is the smell of men working". Now most of the old plants are gone, and the new steel companies that have rejuvenated the area are environmentally friendly....As you drive into Port Arthur, you will also smell oil. It is not as strong as it was when I was living there in the 70s -- thank you EPA. People there like to think of it as "the smell of money," but it also is the smell of cancer, as the area is part of the "cancer belt" that runs along the Gulf coast...
Me, too, Cheryl! Since this floated up recently I've read through it twice already!
This comment reminded me of when I was a kid and Dad would drive Mom and me through downtown Cleveland on the way to his sister and BILs, who lived on the West Side! *gasp* Anyway, we would drive past all of the steel plants. If they were smelting ore, the air was rife with the smell and color of that job - a rank smell dusting everything with a fine patina of reddish-brown. I would complain about the smell and cover my nose with my sleeve or shirt collar. Dad would remind me that "that is the smell of men working". Now most of the old plants are gone, and the new steel companies that have rejuvenated the area are environmentally friendly.
I liked the smell of my Dad's employer's factory better. Dad was a bread delivery driver.